


Atom Bomb Baby

by SpraceJunkie



Category: Renegades - Marissa Meyer
Genre: I watched Incredibles 2 and Bob was giving me Simon and Hugh vibes, M/M, also I know stars above is a lunar chronicles saying, and now I love Elliot Everhart a lot, but I use it all the time irl and in any fic in any Marissa Meyer universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 13:18:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17788118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpraceJunkie/pseuds/SpraceJunkie
Summary: When everything started, they certainly hadn’t meant for it to end up like this.They hadn’t meant to build an organization that would spread across the entire world, they hadn’t meant to fall in love, they hadn’t meant to become leaders, they hadn’t meant to do anything except protect people and work to make their city better.But somehow along the way, Simon and Hugh had ticked the “all of the above” box, underneath all those things and “adopting kids” and “somehow ending up the city’s sweethearts.”But this.Stars above, this.What the hell even was this?





	Atom Bomb Baby

When everything started, they certainly hadn’t meant for it to end up like this.

They hadn’t meant to build an organization that would spread across the entire world, they hadn’t meant to fall in love, they hadn’t meant to become leaders, they hadn’t meant to do anything except protect people and work to make their city better.

But somehow along the way, Simon and Hugh had ticked the “all of the above” box, underneath all those things and “adopting kids” and “somehow ending up the city’s sweethearts.”

Both of their kids had been about as easy as prodigy kids with tragic backstories could be. Adrian, for the most part, had always been quiet and respectful. They’d taken him in when he was already old enough to have manners, and he’d never really not had them, anyway. And Max had always been different, too, since he was kept away in the quarantine. Their fathering had seemingly always been a little bit more long distance with him, when they weren’t coming home to movie nights and family dinners and blanket-fort campouts in the living room.

But this.

Stars above, this.

What the hell even was this?

It was so...bizarre, so almost unbelievable, it was hysterical. Simon was almost crying from laughing so hard, even as he tried to pretend like he was helping Hugh in some way.

Prodigy babies still got abandoned sometimes. Parents who remembered and had never let go of their old prejudices and didn’t want any kid of theirs to have powers left them at HQ, or on the steps of a Renegade's house. One of the long term projects the Renegades were working on was an orphanage to take in those kids, to train them to use their powers safely and let them grow up in a good environment. Until it was operational, though, any babies left on the steps of HQ got taken in by any family willing to have them.

Elliot had been through four homes and counting.

Simon could see why.

“Ellie, want a sucker? Look, see? Please stop burning.” Hugh was practically on his knees begging the almost one-year-old from the kitchen floor, offering up a popsicle.

“Won’t it just melt?” Simon said, still laughing.

Baby-proofing their house had proved to be a nightmare. They were still working on turning the flame-proof fabric R&D had given them into curtains, but for now, nothing hung in their windows. The couches were all covered in beige drapery that wouldn’t catch on fire, and the walls had already been painted in flame resistant paint.

Though if these fiery temper tantrums continued, they’d need something stronger than the paint.

And that was only for the fire.

They were still trying to figure out how to deal with shapeshifting that left Elliot with sharp teeth and claws when he was grumpy but not mad enough to burst into flames. He’d chewed through two kitchen chairs already, and managed to scratch both Simon and Adrian pretty good a couple of times.

And there was the invisibility, which was easier to deal with but could be a nuisance at times now that he was crawling and could get halfway across the room before they could find him again.

And the floating. The floating was a nightmare. They’d look away for a second and suddenly Elliot was on the ceiling. Then he’d fall, only to bounce right back up high above their heads as soon as he was an inch away from hitting the floor.

Stars, they’d ended up with the three most ridiculously overpowered kids possible. Adrian, who could literally create basic life forms with a pen, Max, who could steal power from anyone who got close to him, and Elliot, who apparently could just do whatever he damn well wanted to.

“I’m hoping that if he eats it, it’ll cool him down.”

“I don’t think that’s gonna work.”

“What do you suggest?”

“We need to invest in a non-toxic fire extinguisher.”

Hugh gave up on the popsicle, tossing it in the sink.

It really shouldn’t be so funny. There was a baby sitting on the countertop, on fire, crying. His whole body was shooting flames and glowing bright orange.

And Captain Chromium was sitting on the floor in front of him, looking in between defeated and thoughtful. Simon stepped up behind Hugh, running his fingers through his hair and making himself turn invisible.

“Ellie, hey Ellie, where’s Pops?”

Elliot stopped crying briefly to look over at where Simon had been standing, then started again as soon as he noticed Simon wasn’t there anymore.

“Here I am!” Simon reappeared with as big of a smile as he could have plastered on his face.

Elliot stopped crying again, and his flames dimmed a little bit. Simon made a fishy face at him and disappeared again, stepping around to the other side of the counter before popping back into view.

“Here I am!”

Elliot giggled and his flames went out all the way. Simon laughed and scooped him up.

He would have tossed him into the air to get him to laugh again, but last time Hugh had done that he’d floated to the ceiling and not come down again for almost an hour, and even though he hadn’t once hit the ground falling from any height, there was something inherently stressful about watching a baby crawl on the ceiling.

Instead, he just tickled Elliot until he laughed again and hugged him close. He made just his face invisible and reappeared again, pulling another face.

For a baby that could transform himself and catch on fire and defy gravity, he was pretty damn sweet and innocent looking.

“He’s making himself look like you,” Hugh commented. “Look at his hair.”

Simon smiled again, pressing a kiss to Elliot’s head that was, in fact, filling in with thick salt and pepper hair, much more than his usual thin wisps of blonde.

“It’s about time one of our kids looks like me,” he joked, and Hugh laughed.

“When he’s not on fire or making himself look like a movie monster.”

“I’ll take it.”

Elliot had been living with them for about a month and this was his nineteenth flaming temper tantrum.

This one seemed to have worn him out pretty good though, since he was already snuggling into Simon’s neck like he was ready for a nap.

“What was he upset about, anyway?” Simon asked, rocking gently back and forth.

“I think he was just tired. Evander visited right before you got home.” Hugh turned to the sink and wet a dishcloth to try and get the scorch marks off the counter. “And you know how Evander gets around babies.”

“Oh, he told me he was stopping by. He had reports from that patrol team that got caught-”

“In the demolition, yeah, he left them for me. Said there was something weird about them?”

“Just a couple inconsistencies. I’m pretty sure it’s just because they’re young and it was scary. But Tamaya wanted you to look at them anyway.”

“Something to fall asleep to.”

“Uh-uh, it’s movie night. And you know you never make it through an entire movie.”

“He’s right, Dad,” Adrian came into the kitchen, still in his full patrol uniform. “You’re usually asleep by the time we’re halfway through.”

“That’s an exaggeration,” Hugh protested.

“No it’s not.” Adrian grabbed something out of the fridge. “Name the last time you stayed up through the whole thing.”

“Last week!”

“How did it end?” Adrian grinned at Hugh and took an obnoxiously large bite of his apple.

Simon couldn’t help but laugh at the expression on Hugh’s face as he strained to remember the ending of a movie he’d definitely fallen asleep before seeing.

Elliot started to get harder and harder to hold, not because he was getting heavier but just the opposite.

“He looks like he’s possessed,” Adrian laughed, sticking a finger into Elliot’s fist as it floated upwards along with every part of him that was being hugged into Simon’s chest.

“It’s bizarre,” Hugh said. “He doesn’t fly. He just floats.”

“Gravity manipulation as opposed to flight.”

“You think he’s like Max, only without taking away, just borrowing?” Adrian smiled at the way Elliot gripped his finger while he slept.

“Maybe. Or maybe he’s just ridiculously powerful.” Simon adjusted how he was holding the baby so more of him was contained and he didn’t look so much like he was going to fly away like a balloon.

“Our little atom bomb baby.” Hugh smiled.

Getting Elliot to actually go down to bed was a project in and of itself.

He floated when he was happy, and he was happy most of the time when he was sleeping. While Hugh started making popcorn, Simon started putting Elliot in pajamas and wrapping him up for bed. The weighted swaddle kept him mostly down, though he was still hovering a couple inches above the crib mattress.

And, as both his husband and oldest son saw coming, Hugh was asleep before the movie was even halfway over.

Since Hugh had stayed home with Elliot the day before, it was Simon’s turn to be a stay-at-home dad for the day. Adrian was off doing something at HQ before his patrol shift started, so Simon and Elliot were home alone for the day.

Simon woke up to an invisible boy.

An invisible boy who’d somehow managed to wriggle out of his swaddle and was invisible somewhere that was not his crib.

“Elliot? Hey buddy, where’d you go?”

He was a mess. He hadn’t showered yet, his hair was all over the place, he was still in old sweatpants and a paint-covered, too big shirt that belonged to Hugh, and his baby son was invisible and loose in the house.

“Elliot? Come find Pops!”

A little giggle came from...everywhere? It sounded like it was echoing from everywhere in the room at once, maybe the house. Like Elliot was everywhere.

Stars, if this kid had another power…

“Papa!”

In a flash of blue light, Elliot was suddenly floating right in front of him, arms outstretched. Simon snatched him out of the air and felt him get heavy in his arms again.

“Hey kiddo, where were you? In an alternate dimension? Or just floating?”

Elliot laughed and poked at Simon’s face.

“Never mind. You stink, Ellie, should we change your diaper?”

At least he’d reappeared. They could worry about possible interdimensionality later.

He was just as smelly, stinky, and noisy as a normal baby. When Simon gave him a little bowl full of cereal and a cup of yogurt, he turned away for thirty seconds to put bread in the toaster, he looked back and Elliot was happily dipping his hands in the yogurt and putting it on his head.

And at lunchtime, he got banana in places it didn’t seem like he should have been able to reach. Like on the ceiling, while he was still strapped into his highchair and didn't seem to have moved.

And then on the counter, way too far away to have been thrown.

And then on top of the TV in the living room, when Simon stepped in to pick up a little bit while Elliott kept eating.

And then Simon stepped back into the kitchen, trying to figure out which power was letting mushy banana get everywhere, and there were four Elliots.

“Oh, stars above.”

At this point, it shouldn’t have even been a surprise. Of course he could multiply himself, why wouldn’t he be able to multiply himself, he apparently had every gift known to mankind wrapped up into one twenty pound package, so why wouldn’t self-multiplication be one of them?

“Papa!” The Elliot still strapped into the highchair giggled and reached out for him with stick fingers while the other three floated up into the air before melding back into one and that one combining back into the one in the highchair. “Up!”

“Bathtime, Ellie?”

He was as light as air when the straps came off, delighted at being taken out of the highchair and probably at being caught in his clever little prank, too.

Sending an army of invisible Elliots to make a mess all over the house, of course.

Oh, he was going to be so much harder than Adrian or Max.

By the time Hugh got home, Simon was thoroughly worn out. Elliot had gotten so mad in the bath he’d turned the bathroom into a sauna, napped on the ceiling where Simon couldn’t reach him, separated into fifteen Elliots who were all determined to pull out every drawer they could reach in the entire house, and confirmed that he could teleport through some kind of different dimension by disappearing with a flash of blue light and reappearing in the attic two seconds later, where he hadn’t been able to get out of and Simon had to crawl through a door barely big enough for him to reach him.

Hugh found all of that very, very amusing.

“You won’t laugh as much when he does it to you.”

“You have banana in your hair.” Hugh leaned forward and tried to pick the dried fruit out of Simon’s hair, which had never fully recovered from bedhead in the first place. “And look on the bright side. Nobody ever has to fight over who gets to hold him if there’s twelve of him.”

“Fifteen. I’ll bet one of them took his first steps and I missed it because the other fourteen were causing chaos.”

Simon sighed and relaxed into Hugh’s chest, decidedly ready for bed. Hugh had gotten home later than usual, and Adrian wasn’t due back for another couple hours, and Simon had one hundred percent worn himself out on Elliot duty.

Elliot was asleep in his crib in front of them, floating about an inch above the mattress and cooing in his sleep.

“He’s pretty cute when he’s sleeping,” Hugh said, kissing Simon’s head.

“He’s usually pretty cute. Just not when he’s on fire. Or a demon.”

“I think he makes a pretty cute little demon. Pointy teeth and all.”

“When he’s not biting me.” Simon smiled into Hugh’s chest. “At least he can’t bite you.” Hugh laughed quietly and kissed Simon’s head again.

“You seem ready for bed, Si.”

“I am.”

Hugh lifted him up from under the knees, cradling Simon to his chest and making him laugh.

“I’m not so tired I can’t walk, Hugh.”

“Maybe I want to carry you.”

“Maybe you just like to show off.”

Hugh grinned at Simon, his goofy, wide, natural smile, not the confident superhero one he wore in public, and kissed him on the mouth.

“Maybe I do.”

Regardless, Hugh carried Simon all the way to their bedroom and put him down on the bed, laughing at him the entire way. Simon hadn’t changed out of the clothes he’d woken up in, and was more than happy to pull Hugh down into bed with him, curl into his side, and fall asleep as fast as his body would let him.

It had been a long day.

For the next few months, that was the norm. They switched days depending on who needed to be at HQ most, but unless it was absolutely unavoidable, either Simon or Hugh stayed home with Elliot. It just didn’t seem fair to stick him with a babysitter, even a prodigy babysitter.

Their fridge had a semi-permanent new addition, too. A whiteboard with a list of all the gifts Elliot had displayed so far.

Flame baby. Shapeshifting. Invisibility. Self-multiplication. Teleportation and interdimensionality, which were different things, as it turned out.

A week after his first birthday, he lifted up the entire couch on a search for his stuffed puppy, and Hugh had never looked so excited. And he’d finally hit the floor while falling, but had literally bounced back up, completely unharmed, so they’d tentatively added some kind of invincibility to the list, too.

Simon had watched him stare at a cookie up on the counter until it drifted down into his hand, and Hugh had seen him laugh so hard he sank through the couch, so that was telekinesis and maybe some kind of molecular shift, since it had happened much slower than teleportation or his disappearing into his pocket dimension did.

R&D was losing their minds.

R&D loved to watch him play and see how his gifts came out naturally all the time. It wasn’t ridiculously uncommon for a prodigy baby to show more than one gift when they were young, they said. It wasn’t even that uncommon for a young baby to keep a couple of them, but they always had a common thread. Like Hugh was invincible, strong and could manipulate chromium, but all three of them related back to the fact that he was part chromium.

Elliot didn’t seem to be settling out of any of his powers, and most of them didn’t have anything to do with any of the others. He just seemed to be able to do literally anything he wanted to, like he could develop any power he vaguely wanted or needed as soon as he vaguely needed or wanted them.

He was an incredible little boy with an incredible amount of power and an incredible number of gifts. He was more of a celebrity at HQ than any member of the Council, an honor he’d earned after floating himself all the way up to Max’s quarantine and cooing happily at his brother through the glass while at least twenty frantic Renegades standing underneath him and one who could fly trying to sneak up and grab him but never quite managing it.

Hugh had just stood there and laughed hysterically at Elliot turning somersaults so high above the crowd.

And at home, he was a cuddly little boy who was probably spoiled by two dads who couldn’t say no to his puppy-eyes and a big brother and his friends who would do anything to get him to laugh.

Maybe they hadn’t meant for any of this to happen, when it had started in Simon’s basement all those years ago. But when they were sitting at the dinner table, or visiting Max, and Elliot was laughing and Hugh was telling bad jokes, and Adrian was finding what he thought were subtle ways to poke fun at his dad, it was oh-so-easy to see how it had. How Simon had fallen in love with Hugh, how their family had grown, how everything had ended up so perfect and lovely and happy.

Maybe they hadn’t meant for it to end up like this, but by all the stars in the sky, Simon was glad it had.

**Author's Note:**

> hey hey hey I'm Asper and I want to be a member of the Westwood-Everhart family. Shoutout to Netflix for putting Incredibles 2 up so I can watch it and imagine Renegades shenanigans while I do.
> 
> Any feedback anyone is willing to give is much appreciated, I'm a fic writer, I might as well be a comment Goblin!
> 
> Also feel free to come chat on Tumblr @enby-crutchie where I can be found crying over Mars rovers and talking too much about Renegades and theatre


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